The abolishment of land border controls between Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece is not being discussed at the political level, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Nikolay Denkov, has said, stressing that such a step would go against EU legislation.
Bulgarian PM’s comments came following the letter addressed to Greece’s Minister of Migration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairidis, by Romanian MEPs Dacian Ciolos and Vlad Gheorghe, as well as Greek MEP Georgios Kyrtsos and Bulgarian MP Daniel Laurer urging for open land borders between these countries to ease tourist traffic in summer.
Denkov emphasised that he would have talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sideline of today’s European Council meeting in Brussels.
According to the Euractiv report, Denkov noted that Bulgaria wants Berlin’s support in order to achieve full membership in the Schengen Zone and the Eurozone by the end of this year, and it is not seeking to create a separate border-free zone with Bucharest and Athens.
I look forward to discussing Bulgaria’s priorities- the Schengen land borders, the eurozone. We have always had the support of Germany, and we need to specify the important next steps on which we expect concrete support.
In the letter, the politicians also mentioned that the European Parliament issued several resolutions and reports urging for full Schengen membership, which were supported by the majority.
In addition, the letter also emphasised that the representatives of the Greek tourism and hospitality sector want the land border controls to be abolished in order to facilitate the travel process for Romanian and Bulgarian tourists travelling to the Hellenic Republic.
The four MEPs argued that land border controls between these countries “are still causing huge losses to transport companies and tourists in terms of travel costs, loss of profits and time.”
This would become a very important factor for economic development, especially in the northern parts of Greece, provided that the land border is fully opened before the summer period. The letter notes.
Starting from March this year, Bulgaria and Romania will enter Schengen by air and sea. The decision came following Austria’s proposal called “Air Schengen.”
Irregular migration led authorities in Bulgaria to block the accession of the two Bakan countries to the Schengen Zone in December 2022.
Last month, Austria’s Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, said that his country continues to maintain its veto regarding the land border expansion. Minister Karner considered the further expansion of the Schengen Zone, in terms of land borders, inappropriate at this stage.
